The disposal of infectious waste from hospitals and other medical establishments is a major problem. Indeed, the importance of proper and effective infectious waste disposal has become of greater concern in recent years, due to an increased awareness of health problems such as the AIDS epidemic. In part because of the AIDS epidemic, definitions of what constitutes "infectious waste" are being broadened. Consequently, the volume of infectious waste which must be disposed of is increasing. Accordingly, the need for a system or apparatus which will accomplish the safe, efficacious, and cost effective treatment of significant volumes of infectious waste for disposal is growing.
One method for decontaminating infectious waste involves incineration, wherein the waste is burned and the decontaminated ashes are properly disposed. An alternative treatment method is to disinfect the waste in a steam autoclave prior to waste disposal. While effective for their intended purposes, both incinerators and autoclaves present ancillary problems. Incinerators, for example, are difficult and costly to construct and are relatively expensive to maintain in an environmentally safe manner. Autoclaves too, present additional problems, such as odor, cost and operational complexity. Additionally, waste which has been disinfected by autoclaving typically requires further treatment procedures, such as incineration or shredding, prior to final disposition of the waste in such places as landfills.
With the above discussion in mind, alternative infectious waste treatment systems have been proposed to disinfect the waste in preparation for disposal. According to these proposals, a solid infectious waste is contacted with a disinfectant solution containing a chlorine compound to decontaminate the waste. The decontaminated waste may then be disposed in ordinary landfills.
Unfortunately, decontamination of waste using chlorine compounds presents certain technical complications. First, liquid disinfectant loses its disinfectant potency during prolonged storage. Thus, there is a need to use liquid disinfectant that is relatively "fresh" in order to achieve an acceptable degree of waste decontamination. Second, it is relatively difficult to ensure that an appropriate concentration of the disinfectant has contacted the waste during the treatment process. It is also important, however, to avoid applying too high a concentration of chlorine compound to the waste in order to avoid undesirable results, such as corrosive effects and the release of toxic gasses. The present invention recognizes that precise amounts of disinfectant precursors can be stored for relatively lengthy time periods without losing their potency and can be mixed with water to form a chlorinated disinfectant solution when needed. The resulting solution can be used to decontaminate infectious waste in a system that mechanically shreds the waste.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control system for waste treatment which ensures precise amounts of a chlorine-based disinfectant are blended with infectious waste to decontaminate the waste. Another object of the present invention is to provide a control system for waste treatment which closely regulates the temperature of the infectious waste while it is being disinfected. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a control system that balances the addition of heat and disinfectant during the decontamination process to render the waste substantially noninfectious. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control system for waste treatment which is relatively easy and comparatively cost-effective to implement.